We just finished up a training meeting for our missions team going to the Philippines in November. I’m excited for the team, but also ask our church ohana to keep this mission trip in your prayers. It will be a ten day trip with a packed itinerary. The primary focus will be in farming villages in an area several hours drive north of Manila. Our team will be working with a local SBC church already established in that area and also helping a newer church plant in a nearby village. We will be reaching out to the local public schools, and currently have plans to visit five elementary schools and one high school. Our team will be allowed to go into each classroom and present the Gospel to the students. We will also be providing school supplies to the students during that time. We will be partnering with believers from the local churches with the goal of opening a door for them to be allowed to come back on a regular basis to provide Bible studies at these schools. Our group will also be leaving materials and providing training for those believers to facilitate these ongoing studies.

We also have a local medical team of doctors and nurses who will volunteer their time and provide free medical care and medicine in a village without a hospital. Our team along with local believers will be sharing the gospel as people are gathered and waiting to meet with the doctors. We used a similar model on our mission trip two years and have made some modifications to be able to provide an even greater impact on this trip. Besides assisting with physical needs, we want to minister to their spiritual needs. Along with the medicine provided, everyone will receive gospel tracks, and information on the local church services. There should be enough time for us to personally share the Gospel with every single person there.

At the church we will be staying at, our team will be going through that local village sharing the Gospel and inviting them to an evening of worship and fellowship. It will be a big night and we anticipate a large crowd coming for food and fellowship. It will be a great opportunity to share the Gospel and for them to visit the local church. We were also asked to provide a training workshop for some of the local church leaders from surrounding areas. In addition, we will be reaching out to at least one orphanage, creating care packages for farmers working in the fields during this harvest period, and partnering with the local church in a community service project in the village.

The team will be involved in many projects. Please be in prayer for this trip: for the team, safety, for doors to be opened, and for people to come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. It is difficult being in a foreign country: a different language, different culture, different food, using a bucket with no hot water to shower, and so on. There will be many challenges, and the team has been told over and over that they will need to be adaptable and flexible because schedules and needs can change. With all of this, we recognize that there may be spiritual resistance as well. The team will be meeting every morning for devotionals and prayer during this trip, and will also be ending each day with a group prayer time. Prayer is that important, and we ask that you be in prayer as well. The team will be providing updates with specific prayer needs before and during this trip. If you would like to be included on these email updates, please email pastor@mbaptist.org requesting to be on the Philippines Mission trip email list. I’m excited about the possibilities that lay ahead.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt.28:19-20).